Installing SSD - new PC

[gcfalco]

I'm buying a new PC running Windows 8.

It has no SSD so I'm going to install (or try - I'm fairly new to all this - installed peripherals before but not a drive!) a SSD myself (thinking Samsung 840 Pro 128 or 256 - open to suggestions but reliability is more important than speed).

Should I install the SSD and load Windows 8 on to it as soon as I get the new PC?

Or should I get the machine set up - transfer files & settings - before doing the instalation?

Any advice gratefully received.

 

[blazorthon]

If ridiculous speed is not of great importance, then I suggest getting a much cheaper drive such as a Crucial M4, Plextor M5S, Samsung 830, or Vertex 4. These are all very reliable SSDs that still have very good performance, but are much cheaper than Samsung 840 Pro.

I suggest re-installing Windows onto the SSD and then transfering any files over. If for whatever reason a re-installation is not feasible (maybe you have programs that you can't re-install), then there are other solutions, but this is the best to ensure that there aren't issues caused from taking a hard drive's file system and putting it on an SSD.

 

[SkyWalker1726]

whatever SSD u get , update it's Firmware before proceeding to OS installation

 

[spawnkiller]

Really satisfied with my Crucial M4 128gb (OS) and my Intel 330 180gb (steam games)

Like SkyWalker1726 wrote, update firmware BEFORE you install OS or copy data to it as it will erase the disk with some firmware update and you want ot update it as older firmwares have sometimes really anoying bugs (Sandforce was freezing a long time ago) and the latest, the Fastest, Safest and simply greatest !!

 

[gcfalco]

Thanks for the advice.

My new PC arrived yesterday - now installed the SSD - got the Samsung 840 pro - mainly because of the promised reliability (we'll see!).

And apologies for my lack of basic knowledge in advance........but when I've tried to update the firmware via the Samsung website I'm getting taken to a pair of .enc files - which won't run. Do I need to somehow unzip them? How do I run them to do the update?

What I have done is to use the Windows Device manager to "update the driver" - would this have updated the firmware?

Many thanks again

 

[SkyWalker1726]

is samsung's support website , there is a "Magician Software" , it's the tool that will update your SSD's FW , after downloading it , select update F/W and browse to the .enc files that u downloaded and ur drive will be updated .

( heres the link to download Magician software )
http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/SW/201302/20130205142858776/Samsung_Magician_v4.0.exe